good morning. i'm charles osgood and this is sunday morning. hardly a day goes by, it seems, without news of a major medical advance, breakthroughs in diagnosis and treatment truly are the gifts that keep on giving. still, some advances post some very challenging personal questions. do you really need to know everything that your doctors would tell you? do you really want to know? those are among the questions tracy smith will be exploring in our sunday morning cover story. >> reporter: there was a test that could predict years in advance what one day might kill you, would you take it? >> some people feel that mere information can be very dangerous. >> reporter: if there's no proven treatment, there's no cure, why would you want to know? >> because i have a bucket list. reporter: genetic testing. do you really want to know? ahead on sunday morning. >> osgood: lincoln is a name with a respected place in our

national heritage. not the lincoln who served in the white house. we mean the lincoln that's been parked in many an upscale garage. now with other lucks you're eep brands having passed it by, reliable old lincoln is getting a relaunch. deny reynolds will go out and kick the tires. ♪ i like a new lincoln ♪ with all of its class >> reporter: it was for heads of state and hollywood heavyweigh heavyweights. in its heyday, to own a lincoln meant one thing: you had made it. but that was a long time ago. >> we took our foot off the accelerator, which happens sometimes. you know, that's that and today is today. >> reporter: lincoln's long road back to the top later on sunday morning. >> osgood: when we speak of raising the bar this morning, it's a specific chocolate bar we're talking about. a gourmet confection that is hoping to improve lives overseas thanks to one of hollywood's big

stars. our seth doane went along. >> reporter: the slimy seeds inside these cocoa pods will be transformed into something sweet. thanks in part to a super star supporter. ben affleck. >> i thought, you know, what kind of a life can i lead to make my children proud of me? it wasn't just, you know, making movies. >> reporter: a rather extraordinary story of chocolate. later on sunday morning. >> osgood: alan cumming is an actor from scotland who has made a successful and unhinted career for himself here in the united states. he talks this morning with serena altschul. >> i am the great gazoo. reporter: whether you're young or old, odds are you've enjoyed a movie or a tv show with alan cumming. >> do nothing. say nothing. >> reporter: but before cumming became a star, he had to survive

a childhood of mixed messages. >> i had my father telling me i was worthless. my mum told me i was precious. >> reporter: the prolific ex-heub rance sometimes naughty life of alan cumming. later on sunday morning. >> osgood: martha teichner looks at thomas jefferson, slave owner. elizabeth palmer shows us some sculptures that walk with the wind. mo rocca considers a certain unflattering term for those really annoying people we encounter in life. and more. but first here are the headlines this sunday morning the second of december, 2012. in japan, at least three people are dead in a tunnel collapse west of tokyo. more cars may be trapped under the rubble inside of the two-and-a-half mile long tunnel. it's been another deadly day in afghanistan. the taliban says it was behind an assault on a nato air base in the eastern part of the country. it involved at least four suicide bombers in cars and led to a gun fight that lasted two

hours. all nine attackers were killed along with five afghan civilians. today's "washington post" is reporting that the pentagon plans to expand its spy agency. the defense intelligence agency. to a size that rivals the c.i.a. the national weather service has posted flood warnings for two rivers north of san francisco as california braces for another powerful rainstorm. the storm increases the risk of downed trees and power lines in the already water logged region. the kansas city chiefs square off against the carolina panthers later today one today after the chiefs' starting linebacker jovan belcher shot and killed his girlfriend and drove to the team's stadium and committed suicide in front of his coach and general manager. police say the couple who had a child together had been arguing recently. in college football after a back-and-forth battle, alabama barely held off a last-minute charge by georgia to defeat the

bulldogs 32-28. the win rolls the crimson tide into the national championship game. they'll face top-ranked notre dame. here's today's weather. look for above-normal temperatures across much of the country. not exactly spring-like but then it's not exactly spring, is it? the week ahead will bring rain along with the inevitable cooldown. ahead, do you really want to know? >> is it,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

>> osgood: how far would you be willing to go to satisfy your need to know? far enough to find out your likelihood of dying from a terrible disease? these days that's more than an academic question. our sunday morning cover story now from tracy smith. >> reporter: there are now more than 1,000 genetic tests for everything from baldness to breast cancer, and the list is growing. the question is, do you really want to know what might eventually kill you? that knowledge, some scientists say, could ruin the life you have now. for instance, james watson, one of the discoverers of the structure of dna, had his own genetic make-up mapped and is said to have asked not to be told if he was at higher risk for alzheimers. >> if i tell you, particularly

incorrectly, that you have an increased risk of getting a terrible disease, that could weigh on your mind. that could make you anxious. that could be the filter through which you see the rest of your life. it could really mess you up. >> reporter: every ache and pain i think is the beginning of the end. >> if you were ever worried you were at risk for alzheimers disease, then every time you can't find your car in the parking lot, you think the disease is starting. >> reporter: dr. robert green of boston's briggham and women's hospital has been pondering this issue for years. green led a study of people who wanted to know if they were at a higher genetic risk for alzheimers. it was thought that people who got bad news would, for lack of a better medical term, freak out. but green and his team found that there were no significant differences between how people handled good news and possibly the worst news of their lives. so you found that people who ask for the information usually can handle the information? >> that is what we found, yes. reporter: good or bad. that's right. reporter: in fact, most

people think they can handle it. according to a cbs news poll, 58% of americans say they would want to know if they carried a gene for an incurable disease. >> no critiquing my surgical technique, okay. >> reporter: dr. william harber of miami's eye institute is a pioneer in treating ocular melanoma, eye cancer. he's developed a new genetic tests that divides patients into two classes of survivability, class one and class two. very simply, class one cancer cells like these still act like normal cells and can be killed. in class two, the cells have mutated and have begun to spread throughout the body. there is no cure for class two. as far as accuracy goes, compared to other genetic tests out there, where does this stand? >> i'm told by my colleagues in other fields of oncology that this is perhaps the most accurate prognostic test of any cancer. >> you've been doing well since

you went home? >> yes. all right. no problem. let's take a look here. reporter: now when his patients inevitably ask if the disease will kill them, he has a more precise answer. this woman already knew she had ocular cancer when she first saw the doctor. like all of his patients he gave her the option of peering into her future. what did that mean to you, class one versus class two. >> whether you live or die quite honestly. i mean, you don't know. it scares you and sits you straight up. you want to know. >> reporter: but if there's no proven treatment, why would you want to know? >> because i have a bucket list. reporter: as a veteran e.r. doctor, scott gains is used to patients asking him what their chances are. but two-and-a-half years ago, he was diagnosed with eye cancer as well and found himself in the doctor's clinic. >> i had asked him, i said, well, can you tell by looking, you know, come on, give me some odds. what do you think?

you've seen enough of these. he didn't answer it the way i wanted. it was 50-50. >> reporter: 50-50. he gave me 50-50 class 1/class 2. did i want to have the test? of course i wanted to know. >> even if we can't cure every patient, most people want as much information as they can get to know how to modify the way they're living their life. >> reporter: doctor harber learned that personally when his own father was diagnosed with melanoma. >> i knew that the doctors couldn't cure him, but i knew that he only had a certain amount of time to live and it dramatically altered how i interacted with my father and how our family interacted with each other. by the time he died, we all felt that we had come to a good place. >> reporter: these are precious moments. >> correct. reporter: but a different doctor from the massachusetts eye and ear infirmary says knowing your fate does no good if there's no cure. would you want to know? >> personally i don't.

but i completely understand if somebody wants to know that. >> reporter: he tells his patients about the ocular melanoma test but he doesn't recommend it. if they ask your opinion, what do you tell them some. >> i would say that i wouldn't do it for myself or for any member of my family because if i found that the tumor is highly malignant, so-called class 2 category, i have nothing to offer to the patient. >> reporter: and what you know can hurt you in other ways. people who are at higher risk for disease and know it may have problems with insurance though genetic discrimination is illegal. still for many, there is no such thing as ignorant bliss. >> tell me what it says. angel princess, right. >> reporter: this person died at age 45 from huntington's, a rare degenerative neuro logical disease for which there is no cure. her daughter chris ten grew up

knowing there was a 50-50 chance she'd die the same way. >> one of the big questions you have to ask yourself is, is the burden of not knowing greater than the burden of knowing? >> reporter: for 18-year-old chris ten the burden of not knowing was too much. she got tested last may. >> it is very hard to face a moment where you're going to learn for sure that you are going to get this terrible disease, often the same disease you've watched your parent decline with. people make their own personal decision. i think either decision is fine. but they're faced with this very, very dramatic moment. >> reporter: those moments could soon be happening more often for more people. americans spent $5 billion on genetic testing in 2010. that number is expected to quintuple in the next decade. >> maybe even ten years from now, certainly 20 years from now, it would be unthinkable not to have your genome as a resource for your own health.

>> reporter: and you think most people will take advantage of that. >> absolutely. it will be as common as getting your blood pressure taken. >> reporter: clearly, the people we talked to for this story decided genetic testing was worth a try. they wanted to know, and they gave us permission to share their results. chris ten powers, now a freshman at stam forward, tested negative for huntington's. neither she nor her children will get the disease. she's making a dock euptary about her experience. and this person's cancer is class 1 so there's a good chance she's cancer free. her bucket list will have to wait. dr. scott gains is class 2. his cancer is spreading. >> i like to savor moments, savor things, smell, teach my boys to smell, remember this. get all your senses into it. would i have done that if i was a class 1, i don't know. >> reporter: at this point he's already outlived his prognosis.

>> i feel fine. i shouldn't feel fine, tracy. i do. why is that? i think most people say i have a good attitude. is it prayer? is it what? i don't know. am i still getting scans frequently? oh, you bet i am. >> reporter: and no genetic test can replace another powerful force in medicine. hope. how about five, ten years from now, where do you think you'll be? >> well, i hope i'll be a granddad then. >> osgood: coming up, day one. spoke a language all its own with unitedhealthcare, i got help that fit my life. information on my phone. connection to doctors who get where i'm from.

and tools to estimate what my care may cost. so i never missed a beat. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for more than 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare.

♪ use freedom and get cash back. ♪ack. ♪ five percent at best buy. ♪ wow my definition is high. activate your 5% cash back at chase.com/freedom. ♪ everybody get, everybody get! ♪ now a page from our sunday morning almanac. december 2, 1942, 70 years ago today. the day a new technology was born under a grand stand at the university of chicago's stag field. for that was the day enrico ferme and his team of scientists achieved the world's first self-sustained nuclear reaction, a breakthrough they later re-enacted for the cameras. their success paved the way both for nuclear weapons and for a civilian industry that promised to transform everyday life for the better.

>> here in fact is the answer to a dream as old as man himself. a giant of limitless power at man's command. >> osgood: this 1950s' promotional film foretold everything from nuclear power plants that would light up cities to new and improved means of transportation. >> while nuclear power in locomotives, submarines, ships and even very large airplanes may all but revolutionize future transportation on land, sea and air. >> osgood: on december 2, 1957, 15 years to the day after that chain reaction in chicago, americans first commercial nuclear power plant opened in shippingport pennen. >> this plant has a secure place in american history. it is the first of the world's large-scale nuclear power stations exclusively devoted to peaceful purposes. >> osgood: today with just over 100 plants across the united states producing roughly 20% of our electricity, the nuclear

industry's future stands at a cross roads. >> evacuation. please stay indoors with your windows closed. >> reporter: opponents of new plant construction point to the leak at pennsylvania's three mile island in 1979, to the soviet reactor meltdown in chernobyl in 1986 and to the fukushima disaster in japan after last year's earthquake and tsunami. supporters counter that today's modern reactor designs make nuclear power a safe and environmentally green alternative to fossil fuels and greenhouse gases. however, the policy debate turns out that first nuclear reactor in chicago is long gone. the site marks since 1967 by this henry moore sculpture. ahead, on the beach. i'm a conservative investor.

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[ male announcer ] it's that time of year again. medicare open enrollment. time to compare plans and costs. you don't have to make changes. but it never hurts to see if you can find better coverage, save money, or both. and check out the preventive benefits you get after the health care law. ♪ open enrollment ends december 7th. so now's the time. visit medicare.gov or call 1-800-medicare. so now's the time. oh, it's great! now i can brew my coffee just the way i love it. how do you do that? well, inside the brewer, there's this train that's powerful enough to carry more coffee and fresh water to make coffee that's stronger and bigger... and even hotter! actually, i just press this button. brew the coffee you love -- stronger, bigger, or hotter -- with the keurig vue.

>> osgood: walking on air is a figure of speech brought to life by a skilled artist and craftsman in holland. elizabeth palmer takes us to see him at work on the beach. >> reporter: this man's world day begins in a shipping container that doubles as a tool shed. outside he gets a firm grip on his, well, passion is one word, obsession is another. and hauls it off toward the sea for some tweaking. his creations are forged in his studio workshop a few miles away, just off the main highway to amsterdam.

he calls them strand beasts, that's dutch for beach animals. he is 64 now, an inventor, an artist who back in the '60s studied physics and math. and then discovered his trueh=%y calling. breathing life into ordinary p.v.c. pipe. >> the power source is a compressor which i have on the other side. >> reporter: theoretically the wind. >> yes. i don't try to make beautiful animals. i just try to make it function. when it's finished i'm surprised myself how beautiful they are. >> reporter: beautiful standing still and even more beautiful in motion. it's here on the flat, hard sand of the north sea at low tide that with a little coaxing the strand beasts will strut their stuff.

the beasts are powered by the wind. their articulated joints are attached by melted sections of pipe running off a central spine. boy, do they run. but they stumble too. and even fall. he continues to reinvent and refine them, generation after generation. you control the flow of air just by pinching the hose. >> yes, to make it simple. the idea is that he walk parallel to the coast and that they can steer more or less by putting forth some resistance. >> reporter: oh, i see. his designs have morphed over the years. 34 in all. starting with this one which was

only a qualified success. >> every time i put him on the beach, he would just collapse. this was very frustrating. in the beginning, it was the rigidness of the material, of the joints. the joints were the first five years it was the joints. >> reporter: his design problems and solutions are documented in a series of da vinci like sketches of his beasts' evolution. all with latinesque names. one of his largest efforts. and then there was another one with a double undercarriage. and this design detour he calls animaris rhinoceros was made of cardboard. outside his hill top studio, the

skeletons of the earlier models litter the grass. why do you allow some of them to go extinct? >> well, because it's so much work to repair them all the time. >> reporter: the skeletons, like fantasy dinosaurs, have been shown in galleries across europe and asia with the man on the lecture circuit to explain how they work. >> a backbone which makes a circular movement like this. >> reporter: is this engaging mixture of engineering and whimsy really art? yes, it is says the head of sculpture at london's royal college of art. what is it that draws us in? >> i think audiences like to experience wonder before things. this is an encounter of wonder and awe. >> reporter: wonder, awe, and sheer enchantment. the beasts are irresistible to

passers-by. and passing dogs. the secret of their uncanny life-like walk, he says, is the proportion of the leg parts which he worked out as a computer algorithm. >> one of the major criteria was that a leg shouldn't spend too much time in the air. just go back to the ground. we have to think of real animals trying to seek balance. >> reporter: he is hoping for a major exhibit in the u.s. next year. his only worry? that the manufacturer will stop making his raw material. >> this is enough for the rest of my life. >> reporter: is it really? for the rest of your life? >> yes. reporter: he bought and is now storing 0 miles of the stuff so he'll be sure to have enough to continue work on his ultimate project: a strand beast so perfect it could one day leave

its creator behind. and keep walking after you're gone from the earth? >> that's right. so i keep on living somehow in the future. >> reporter: one man's pipe dream of immortality. >> osgood: still to come, the other jefferson. but first, the other lincoln. ,,,

marguiles. >> it's sunday morning on cbs and here again is charles osgood. >> osgood: this 1957 lincoln continental mark 2 is one of just 444 built that model year. with a then princely sticker price of $10,500 it was the most expensive car built in the united states. proud owners included president eisenhower, frank sinatra and elizabeth tailor. hers was in a color to match her distinctive eyes. although this classic car shines like new, the luster of the lincoln brand has faded over time, the trend dean reynolds tells us the folks at ford very much want to reverse. ♪ i like a new lincoln ♪ with all of its class

>> reporter: it has been the preferred means of conveyance for pluto karates, potentates and presidents. from douglas fairbanks to elvis presley, dean martin to pablo picasso, it was made for... >> the privileged world of those who enjoy america's most distinguished motor car. >> reporter: the author john steinbach wrote that no other car so satisfied my soul. bank robber clyde barrow had one though it's not known if he actually paid for it. >> there be a brand new thrill on the highway in 1951. >> reporter: its creators wanted the most luxurious ride with the most beautiful styling of anything on four wheels. something that went well with country clubs, fine wines, and beautiful people. >> my name is pucci. this is the pucci edition mark 4, the first pucci fashion with an engine. >> reporter: the lincoln motor company was founded by henry

leyland in 1917. named for abraham lincoln, his hero and the man for whom he cast his first vote in 1864. by 1922 leyland had sold lincoln to henry ford who entrusted his son edsel with the task of turning lincoln into something special. it's a story. edsel ford ii knows well. >> i think quite frankly he wanted this so he could make a mark on the industry. his father was still the president of the company and edsel, i believe, was trying to find his way, trying to find something that he could do. i think lincoln provided just that special opportunity. >> it looks like it did. reporter: but critics of later models said class gave way to kitsch. daring was replaced by dull. the company seemed to build little but the limosine of

choice. and low-mileage vehicles you didn't so much park as dock. sales, which had topped out at 200,000 in 1990, dropped to 85,000 last year as its competitor, cadillac, cruised by. >> we took our foot off the accelerator, which happens sometimes. but, you know, that's that and today is today. >> reporter: and today, one of the biggest problems for the brand is that the average age of a lincoln owner is 65. >> we need to attract younger people to the brand. >> reporter: somebody other than medicare recipients. >> yes, probably. reporter: ford has reportedly given its lincoln division a billion dollars to make that happen and has hired a new automotive designer, max wolf. wolf's previous employer was cadillac. did you ever think you would wind up at lincoln? i mean, what did you think of lincoln when you were at

cadillac? >> well, i mean, lincoln is still one of the great american luxury name plates. the opportunity to come and be part of the revitalization or the reimaging of one of america's great luxury names was an opportunity just too good to pass up. >> reporter: let's cut to the chase. >> one of the key things that we did on the front of this car was introduce the horizontal element in the grill. >> reporter: wolf and his team of 25 working for the first time in their own lincoln design center have come up with this. the 2013mkz. >> there's this one single line running through the body. it's got a very uninterrupted kind of silhouette running through it. >> reporter: inside, the gear shift is gone. replaced by push buttons on the dash. and even a redesigned back end has the word "lincoln" spelled out across it in case people

wonder what it is. ♪ have you heard the story of the hot rod race when the fords and the lincolns were setting the pace? ♪ >> reporter: were you surprised you went to a guy who would design cadillacs to put a new look on a lincoln? >> it doesn't make any difference where he comes from. he has great taste. he has a great ability to do our lincolns for us. now you can see what he's done. i just think my grandfather edsel would be just thrilled with the way things are today. ♪ he said, son, you're going to drive me to drinking if you don't stop driving that hot rod lincoln ♪ >> osgood: next, bubble, bubble. [ elizabeth ] i like to drink orange juice

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it happened this week. a new look for an old-time childhood standby. the tops company announced it's giving a makeover to its flagship product bazooka bubble gum. launched in 1947, since 195 every piece has featured a small folded up comic strip with an eye-patch wearing boy and his turtle-neck-challenged best friend. not the most sophisticated humor we'll admit but perfect for the

bubble-gum set not just here but around the world. but now we learn no more. the updated bazooka, due in stores next month, will feature a slightly larger piece of gum, a brand new additional flavor, blue-raspberry, and new packaging with flashier colors blue-raspberry, and new packaging with flashier colors than the old red, white and blue. blue. gone, however, will be the comic strips. now, the bazooka people assure us that joe and the rest of his gang aren't going away entirely and will still appear as illustrations on new inserts that will include games and puzzles. just no more jokes and punch lines. in other words, reports of bazooka joe's demise as a bubble gum spokes-kid clearly have appeared to be "blown" out of all proportion. ahead, thomas jefferson. >> jefferson professed to hate slavery, called it an abominable crime,,,,,,,,,,,,

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who, as a young man, attempted, however feebly, to reform the institution, but in the end he was ultimately someone who was trapped by or allowed himself to be trapped by the economic, political and cultural circumstances into which he was born. >> jefferson has the earliest memory of being handed up on a pillow as a toddler to a slave on a horse. we know that his last words were asking his slave to adjust his pillow here in this room. >> reporter: jefferson's butler was also a slave. >> there would have been intimate relationship really from birth to death. >> reporter: elizabeth is curator at monticello. now, are there pieces of furniture in this room that were made by slaves? >> yes. in the joinery or the furniture-making wood shop in jefferson's later years was run by a slave named john hemmings.

hemmings ran the joinery and made many pieces of furniture that are in monticello today. he was very highly skilled. he was freed by jefferson in his will and given the tools of his trade. >> reporter: john hemmings is remembered because of his craftsmanship. unlike so many other jefferson slaves. >> to be able to sort of have an image of jefferson that we all know and behind him the names of the 600 people that he owned in his lifetime really means that we have to understand slavery in order to understand jefferson. >> reporter: this man heads the smithsonian's national museum of african-american history and culture, sponsor of a traveling exhibition about slavery at monticello. >> what's powerful is quite candidly we only know the first names. and there are some that we just have as unknown. >> reporter: lucy, lucy. it's almost any old name. >> that's exactly right. is is thomas jefferson's

laptop desk. this is the desk upon which he wrote early drafts of the declaration of independence. >> reporter: the first of those drafts attacked britain's slave trade. jefferson writing that king george iii has waged cruel war against human nature itself. the continental congress took the phrase out. alongside the rejected passage, the financial reality. >> next to it is his farm book. here is where he would list the births and deaths of the slaves. he would list the work that they did. so in some ways it really gives us a full picture of the totality of jefferson. >> reporter: which at times contradicts the popular image of jefferson as a benevolent slave holder. >> occupied one half of this site. inside there were four forges. >> reporter: one example, what went on at jefferson's extremely profitable nail making workshop at monticello. >> as a young child, your job

was to move the nails around, but by the time you're 12, 13, 14, your job is to make these nails. >> reporter: the boys were routinely whipped to force them to be more productive. >> that happened while jefferson was on monticello. it happened when he was gone. because in the 18th century, you couldn't run a plantation without using violence. >> reporter: a man of his time, jefferson thought he was benevolent. but even his plan for ending slavery would be considered racist today. >> his view was that at best there could be an emancipation but then there would be repatriation. there would be colonization. african-american slaves would leave the united states. he did not foresee a bi-racial integrated society. one of many ironies of his life because he created a bi-racial society at monticello. >> reporter: this is an artists' imagined portrait of sally hemmings, sister of john

hemmings, the furniture maker. she was also believed to be thomas jefferson's wife martha's half sister. the entire hemmings' family ended up at monticello. but it was in paris in the 1780s while jefferson, by then a widower, was u.s. minister to france. he supposedly began a nearly 40-year sexual liaison with sally who was there with him. by law she was free in france. before agreeing to return to virginia to slavery, she set conditions. >> according to her descendents, she said, i will go back with you if any children we have are allowed to be freed at 21. jefferson must have been totally flummaxed by this strong-willed i think quite courageous woman. >> reporter: in september 1802, a richmond virginia newspaper outed jefferson saying, by this

wench, sally, our president has had several children. after that, the jefferson-hemmings story was whispered from one generation to the next for nearly 200 years by descendents of sally hemmings. many of whom passed for white. >> it's been an interesting journey for me because it started out when i was a kid, me standing up in class and saying thomas jefferson is my great great great great great great grandfather and being so happy and proud to brag about it when you're studying the presidents. then when the teacher said sit down and stop telling lies and all the kids laugh at you. >> reporter: by the mid 1990s, the laughing had stopped. historians, even at monticello, were becoming believers. television reporter shannon lenere is a direct descendent of sally hemmings through her son madison hemmings. >> before that reunion i had only known the hemmings descendents from madison line of the family. i didn't even know the jefferson

line. >> let's all ghettoing and take a picture. >> reporter: shannon lenere, right in front, was 19 when he attended the controversial first-ever combined hemmings/jefferson family reunion at monticello in 1999. afterward he and jane feldman, the photographer who took this picture, traveled the country interviewing four generations of hemminges and jeffersones for a book, jefferson's children. >> our journey in the jefferson story acts as a catalyst for people to be able to discuss the topic of slavery. >> he had a family bible, a great big thick number. my mother inherited it from an uncle. in there was an entry, among others, brown-colonel vert. >> reporter: in 2006 bill web's wife, doing some research, found brown-colbert listed as a monticello safe. it turns out he was the brother

of jefferson's butler, burl colbert. as a boy, he worked at the nail-making workshop which web decided he had to see. >> here i am standing on the very thing, land, where my ancestor had worked as a young preteen. that's heavy. it was something that brought tears to to my eyes to say, my god, my god. >> reporter: thomas jefferson is buried at monticello. en scribed on his monument, the achievements he wanted to be remembered for including the declaration of independence, but he will be remembered as well for the legacy that is not written here. >> osgood: coming up a journey with ben affleck into the heart

of africa. ,,,,,,,,,,,,

>> osgood: 23 days until christmas. nothing says holiday warmth quite like a cup of cocoa, a drink that begins here with raw cocao beans. one candy maker we know of is raising the bar or at least the price of a bar of chocolate in terms of helping cocao farmers halfway around the world. seth doane traveled to africa on assignment for cbs this morning. he saved something sweet for us. >> reporter: it's rich. it's velvety, it's almost sinful. but creating the perfect bar at this seattle chocolate factory is about more than just the ingredients on the wrapper. >> i feel that everybody in the whole supply chain all the way back to farmers should be better off as the result of this delicious food that we use to

share with the people we love. >> reporter: these are the beans. >> these are the beans. this is ke co- >> reporter: the owner pays farmers two to three times more than the going rate to buy this cocoa from the d.r.c. >> where does cocoa come from? people think it comes from switzer land. it's coming from farmers in africa and in indonesia and in central and south america. >> reporter: he believes that americans will be willing to pay more for chocolate if they know that in turn impoverished farmers will earn more. of all places, why congo? >> why congo? well, it was really ben affleck's fault. >> reporter: yes, that ben affleck. >> like this? that's well fermted. this isn't. >> reporter: earlier this year, we joined ben affleck and joe on a trip to the d.r.c., cocoa can

only grow within a narrow climate zone close to the equator. in 2009 affleck started a charity called eastern congo initiative to spur economic development in this war-torn region. five million people have died here due to decades of conflict. >> as i was reading, i just sort of stumbled upon some of these statistics. i was struck not only by the numbers but by the fact that i hadn't heard about it. >> reporter: so affleck decided to use his celebrity as a sort of currency to attract investment. he led a small group of philanthropists, protected by armed guards, through jungles where cocoa trees thrive. and farmers struggle. >> the cocoa industry here has potential if the value can be increased. >> reporter: for the last two years affleck's eastern congo initiative has worked with

winney and local groups to train farmers to improve the crop. cocoa grows in these greenish-yellow pods that are cracked open to harvest. it's quite slimy, huh? >> it is. when you suck on it, it's absolutely delicious. >> reporter: doesn't taste like chocolate at all. it tastes like passion fruit or something. the company has committed to buy 340 tons of cocoa from the d.r.c. >> this is really good quality. reporter: creating a dependable export market. >> we've brought these people together. they're selling to a chocolate company in the united states. those markets have been completely closed off to them in the past. it's not just aid. it's investment. >> reporter: investment in an area not far from where rebels recently took over a regional capital. but cocoa is known as a militia- resistant crop. the beans are not usually stolen by rebels because they're worthless. without all the processing to turn them into chocolate.

>> we have security guards around us. there have been attacks recently. this is a tough place to do business. >> it is but it's also a place that really needs this kind of business. >> reporter: business in seattle is a little sweeter these days. theo is raising money for charity with its $5 congo bar which may make indulging in this piece of chocolate just a little less sinful. >> you've never tasted chocolate? we're trying to make sure that there's a connection between the farmer and the consumer because when they care about each other, that's when real change starts to happen. >> what do you think? it's okay. just okay. isn't it great? you're june cleaver. >> osgood: next the good wife's

alan cumming. >> reporter: you dedicated this book to your parents. and layer, mo rocca with the last word on the a-word. thanks to our explorer card. then, the united club. my mother was so wrong about you. next, we get priority boarding on our flight i booked with miles. all because of the card. and me. okay, what's the plan? plan? mm-hmm. we're on vacation. there is no plan. really? [ male announcer ] the united mileageplus explorer card. the mileage card with special perks on united. get it and you're in.

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>> talk to me. no, it's my own thing. not your own thing. i know i don't seem like the warm and understanding type but this is my warm and understanding face. >> it's sunday morning on cbs. here again is charles osgood. >> osgood: that's alan cumming in the good wife. if you haven't seen him in that, don't worry. you almost certainly have seen the 47-year-old actor in something else. either at the movies or on tv. serena altschul has his sunday profile. >> excuse me. hi. how can i help you? >> reporter: alan cumming is is an actor for the ages. >> she's a very good sort of girl. i'm sure there are men who would not object to... everybody has their level. >> are you sure? reporter: all ages. i designed him. i built him. his name is x52495.

>> reporter: whether he's playing to kids looking for a few laughs. >> i was about to make... reporter: ... or adults looking for action. or drama. >> i will never as long as i live will never forget you. >> reporter: i brought the alan bag. >> oh, good. reporter: so when i sat down with cumming, we had a lot of ground to cover. >> this is a good one. reporter: i remember that well. ♪ i think of you >> slug head. reporter: what a great villain. >> i loved that. am invincible. it was such fun. >> reporter: i love his name. yes. reporter: when you ask cumming a simple question, you never know where it will lead. your body of work...

>> this is my body. are you talking about my body. >> reporter: i'm not talking about your body. we had to get there eventually. the amount and the variety of pieces that you have worked on, you have... >> including the work we've done together. >> reporter: well, we were in this piece together. there you go. >> icon tact. hand. >> we have just received a confirmed report that the members disappeared in their private jet today. >> i went that's the girl from joesy and the pussy cats. >> reporter: and you might be saying, isn't that the guy from the good wife? >> where did you go to school, you idiot? you stupid son of a bitch. you novice. >> reporter: every week on tv, cumming plays eli gold, a bare knuckles political consultant. >> the good thing is that everything has got to be just...

completely... i love acting big eyebrow acting. >> reporter: but cumming always comes back to the theater. this year in a provocative one-man production of macbeth. >> my own valor. reporter: after all, it was theater that first made him a star in the u.s. he played the emcee in cabaret in 1998. >> it was an amazing thing for me. it completely changed my life. >> reporter: we sat down in the same building where he performed in cabaret. in the late '70s, it was the notorious club studio 54. it had since become a theater. cabaret became a nation-wide sensation. cumming won a tony award.

>> i thought it was amazing. i would go to somewhere in the middle of america -- this is before i had done films that they knew -- i would go into the cafe and they would say you're the cabaret guy. did you see the show? no. >> reporter: alan cumming was raised far from the big city lights. tell me about growing up in scottland. in those smallish town. >> it wasn't a town. i grew up on a country estate. >> reporter: country estate may sound like the setting for an idyllic scottish childhood. it wasn't. >> well, i have so few memories of my child heidt. it's really weird. that's because i didn't want to make the memories because they were so painful. >> reporter: cumming says he and his big brother were terrorized by their father who tended the forest on the estate. >> my dad was very, you know, troubled person. and violent. >> reporter: hard on you guys. yeah, he was. i think in a funny sort of way i had a very... a very balanced

childhood. >> reporter: what balanced that? i had my father telling me i was worthless. and i had my mum telling me i was precious. so i didn't believe either of them. >> reporter: theater classes gave him a way out. >> when i started to act, it was something that i was good at. also other people would tell me i was good at it so my father couldn't be... he couldn't just be the authority. >> reporter: in school, he met and married actress hillary lyon. the marriage lasted eight years. but he's described himself as being bi-sexual. five years ago he married grant shaffer, a graphic artist. >> i think people associate with me, the easiness of myself, comfort with myself, openness about many things including my sexuality. i think people connect to that. i think they like me for that. i think it's been a good thing for me to be as open as i have been and to be out in that way.

>> reporter: these days cumming could not appear more settled down as he walks around his manhattan neighborhood with his two dogs. honey and leon. >> i feel great. i'm not as crazy as i used to be i think. >> reporter: you don't miss the wilder times? >> i still have wild times. reporter: he's got a saying he's fond of repeating. >> i think everything in moderation including moderation. >> reporter: but he's not terribly moderate in his new film. >> loud music ain't good for kids. hurts their ears. >> mind your own business. reporter: he plays a drag queen, half of a gay couple prevented in court from rescuing a disabled boy. after being given numerous gay rights awards, cumming felt the film spoke to basic human rights. >> i want to live in a world that i feel is right. i think it's about being scottish i think actually.

we have a, you know, really big sense of snipping out injustice. >> reporter: but then we get back to the fun and off-color side of alan cumming. this is your second. >> this is the second cumming. reporter: he has a fragrance line and a video to go with it. >> sexy. it changes all the same. >> reporter: oh, it is nice. it's leathery. i really like it. >> reporter: well done. thank you. reporter: for such a, you know, naughty name, it has a really... >> i may be naughty but i have substance behind my naughtiness. >> reporter: yes. he brings many of his sides together in photographs he started marketing this year. here's his husband grant, and this is honey. and there's a wide range of self-portraits. >> this is called the night my father died. obviously i was in a state of... >> reporter: it's intense.

intensity. reporter: it all adds up to one complicated personality. i don't want to overpsychoanalyze. >> go ahead. i've spent all this money. let's do it on tv. >> reporter: let's do it live, shall we? this lack of memory of your childhood. you have a child-like quality to you, a playfulness. do you feel like part of that... part of your personality is kind of recapturing that loss? >> i think in a funny sort of way, i had to grow up. i had my life backwards in a way sort of. i think a lot of people have this kind of quality. as they grow older it gets more... with me it's the opposite way. as i grow older, i'm more able to be who i am. >> reporter: and if alan cumming thinks he's just in the process of opening up, watch out. how many careers can you squish

into one man? >> i'm not done yet. reporter: no, you're not. osgood: next. what a [bleep]. osgood: when only one word will do. to help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. today, the beaches and gulf are open, and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. and bp's also committed to america. we support nearly 250,000 jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. our commitment has never been stronger. [ female announcer ] with depression, simple pleasures can simply hurt. the sadness, anxiety, the loss of interest. the aches and pains and fatigue. depression hurts. cymbalta can help with many symptoms of depression.

tell your doctor right away if your depression worsens, you have unusual changes in behavior or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase these in children, teens, and young adults. cymbalta is not approved for children under 18. people taking maois or thioridazine or with uncontrolled glaucoma should not take cymbalta. taking it with nsaid pain relievers, aspirin, or blood thinners may increase bleeding risk. severe liver problems, some fatal, were reported. signs include abdominal pain and yellowing skin or eyes. tell your doctor about all your medicines, including those for migraine and while on cymbalta, call right away if you have high fever, confusion and stiff muscles or serious allergic skin reactions like blisters, peeling rash, hives, or mouth sores to address possible life-threatening conditions. talk about your alcohol use, liver disease and before you reduce or stop cymbalta. dizziness or fainting may occur upon standing. simple pleasures shouldn't hurt. talk to your doctor about cymbalta. depression hurts. cymbalta can help.

>> osgood: a crude word that begins with an a is is commonly used to describe certain rude people, too commonly used some would say. mo rocca ponders the word and the provocations. >> reporter: they cut us off on the highway. jump in front of us in line. talk really loudly on their cell phones. right next to us. there's a word for these sorts of people. be just can't say it here. but on the movies or on cable, you hear it all the time. >> what an [bleep], man! [bleep]. -hole. this is a vulgar word, a coarse word. there's the reason why we made this a coarse word so when our

neighbors start the leaf blower at 7:00 on a sunday morning, we have an appropriate means to express the full extent of our indignation. >> everything the other side hates. >> reporter: jeffrey numbering teaches at the university of california berkeley. he wrote a scent of the a-word. a-word is the term we'll use. how would you define an a-word. >> it's somebody who goes around saying do you know who i am? and invariably doesn't know himself. >> reporter: numbering's students all have their own working definitions. >> someone who is a jerk and doesn't... isn't afraid to show other people that he is a jerk. [bleep] >> i would have to say anyone who is not me and gets my ire up. >> i think i try not to use that word except when i'm driving because road rage is acceptable. >> reporter: i went to a concert, pricey ticket. people in front of me just started talking pretty loudly. and i said, listen, i paid a lot of money for this ticket. they turned around and they

said, we did too. and kept talking. >> a-word. reporter: a-words have been around since the dawn of man. >> in one sense you can think of a-words going back to ancient greece, achiles, scrooge was an a-word before he saw the light. >> be off with you. ut this is really a new word. it's a word that's formed in the mouths of g.i.s during world war ii as a reproach for officers who were arrogant and in that sense the first leader to be described as an a-word by both his men and his superiors was george patton. >> shut up. this yellow bastard. >> reporter: the word itself may be crude but it's recently inspired pretty sophisticated thinking. >> the value of a moral action depends on the character or

motivation. >> reporter: aaron james is a professor of philosophy at the university of california in irvine. with a new bluntly titled book. you've dedicated this book to your parents. >> yes. if my parents hadn't done a good job, i might have been the kind of person discussed. >> reporter: james says that kind of person is multiplying in our society. >> i think probably the number is on the rise because of various trends. one is our recent style of greed is good capitalism. >> greed is right. greed works. >> another is, you know, certain kinds of media. reality tv. >> you're fired. you're fired. you're fired. >> you look at a show like the apprentice where somebody who consummately deserves this label, even his political partisans say that trump deserves this label, he's our a-but he's an a-word. >> reporter: in hollywood a-words often make the a-list. >> the ten most fascinating people. >> if you look at the list of

most fascinating people that barbara walters assembles year after year, anywhere from four to six of them patently deserve the a-word label. it's a category that we're fascinated with. you see in last year's list there was steve jobs, trump, the car dashians, simon cowell. in previous years mel gibson. >> thank you so much. reporter: and then there's kanye west who famously interrupted taylor swift's acceptance speech at the 2009m.t.v. music video awards. barbara walters called him fascinating a few years earlier. but aaron james calls him something else. a delusional a-word. >> although he's a very talented artist, he thinks he's much more significant as an artist, much more talented than he is. he says my greatest pain in life is that i'll never be able to see myself perform live on stage. >> reporter: yet somehow my heart doesn't break for him. but before we start pointing

fingers, jeffrey numbering says there's a little bit of a-wordishness in all of us. the internet? it's like the promised land for a-words. >> anonimity makes this easier. time was when you wanted to post anonymous nasty remarks about people's political or sexual or person habits, the only place you had was the wall of the public bathrooms. now the whole world is a big public laboratory where you can scrawl whatever you want without tipping your hand. >> reporter: oh, my gosh, that's right. the worldwide rest room. so could it be that we're all a-words? >> some people have it chronically like con sump tiffs with a chronic cough but all of us are liable to get a chronic cough. >> reporter: you don't seem the least bit like an a-word. >> not to you today. but if you had seen me trying to get over here and seen a cab, you would have had a different opinion. >> reporter: so the person watching at home thinking, gee,

i wonder if i'm an a-word, what should he or she ask him- or herself. >> whether you would be ashamed of yourself in the thought that you qualify? >> reporter: if you're fine with the label you probably are one. >> fine with the label and proud of it, then you probably are one, yeah. >> reporter: i love it. it's like easier than a home pregnancy test. >> you get the results right away.

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here's a look at the week ahead on our sunday morning calendar. the london home of the late singer amy winehaas will be auctioned off. it is expected to fetch nearly $3 million. starting tuesday, cory booker the mayor of newark new jersey will attempt to live for a week on a food stamp budget. that means eating no more than the agriculture $4.40 of food per day. wednesday is the night for the grammy nomination concert in nashville to broadcast live here on cbs. thursday sees the national christmas tree lighting ceremony in washington. friday is the 40th anniversary of the launch of apollo xvii, the last manned mission to the moon. sundown on saturday marks the beginning of hanukkah, the

jewish festival of lights. right now we glo to bob scheiffer in washington for a look at what's coming up on face the nation. good morning, bob. >> schieffer: good morning, charles. treasury secretary tim geithner climbs the fiscal cliff this morning on "face the nation." >> schieffer: thank you, bob scheiffer. we'll be watching. next week here on sunday morning... ♪ >> osgood: actor ewen macgregor and singer. ♪

♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] you've been years in the making. and there are many years ahead. join the millions of members who've chosen an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. go long. sunday morning's moment of nature is sponsored by...

>> osgood: we leave you this sunday in costa rica where howler monkeys always have something to say. "us? wwó

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we have our eye on the storm bearing down right now on the bay area. you're taking a live look at the napa river. we are tracking the rain, flooding and all of the storm damage. and you can see what it s